My name is Dennis Dockham. As I was growing up we lived in the Jamaica Plain [J.P.] section of Boston. We moved to Dorchester when I was in 2nd grade. I lived through the forced bussing issues within the city of Boston. I attended Middle School, and I became a student advocate while in High School. I was always getting involved in serving others by volunteering in many organizations throughout my twenties.

I got married April 1989. We moved to Quincy, Massachusetts [MA] where my son Kevin in 1993 and my daughter Christine in 1996 were born. A lot of time was spent helping others through many organizations. I started to drift away from serving people.

My life became more business oriented, as I got into middle management. I compromised my principles, and no longer was a servant, but a self-centered arrogant money hungry person. My life started to be unmanageable. Alcohol and gambling became part of my daily routine, as I fell into addiction in earthly ways. Then in February 2006, I was arrested as a direct result of my alcohol use.

Over the next two years of court proceedings, divorce, and giving up on life, I was ready to throw in the towel and began praying to the God. God said, “He had no use for me.” I was pleading nightly for God to take my life and end my pain. Once again, I was being selfish and only caring about my pain and not anyone else’s pain. In April 2008, I was sentenced to five years in the House of Correction. My life was over, and my eyes covered by scales.

Once I was incarcerated, I started looking for God, asking why He did not take my life which I prayed for so many nights over the two years of my court proceedings. I had hit rock bottom. I was the lowest type of person as a criminal. I ended up in a place that I never thought I would ever be. After the shock of being in jail that first week, I fell to my knees and cried out to God asking for answers. Then for the very first time I felt a presence upon me. I heard God say. “Come to Me and give yourself over to me, and I will stand with you.” At first I was scared and did not understand the things that started to come to me in visions and thoughts - some I still cannot explain today.

As I started to search my deepest thoughts, I picked up a Bible and joined a Bible study group that was run by a Christian brother who had been coming into the jail for over 10 years. I started to understand more about the feelings I had within me and how it affected my earthly ways of living in the flesh.

Now seeing the changes, I needed to make in my life, how could I do this myself? Self-centered and arrogant, I thought I was better than everyone else? Well, God knew what He was doing by placing me right where I needed to be at this point in my life. That Bible study has forever changed my life because I came to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and that He died on a cross for a sinner like me, who was undeserving of what He had done on the cross so that I could live with Him in eternity.

I realized that without God in my life that I would always be the same. So once again I fell to my knees, this time to turn my life over to Christ asking for His forgiveness and seeking His wisdom. I was born-again on October 27, 2008. On this day, I really felt His presence within my soul and my eyes became open to the Light of Christ. This was the start of a life changing way of living that would become my daily walk with Christ.

Since my release in November 2011, from the House of Correction, I have taken the wisdom of God’s Word and put it into practice in my daily walk. I became obedient in serving my Lord and Savior, humbly serving those who are out there lost and shackled in bondage. I shared my story of a broken, unwanted, despised individual who only thought the way out was death. Now in full repentance, I am seeking truth and striving to walk in the Light of Christ, surrendering all my faults over to God daily, that my fleshly behaviors, would never return again in my life.

Allowing the Holy Spirit to direct and guide me, I proclaimed my faith in the power of resurrection by a full immersion baptism on March 25, 2012, confessing to my rebirth in Christ as written in scripture. I praise God every night for salvation from my sins and for the daily guidance He provides to me through prayer and meditation. Remember I mention about pleading for Him to take my life? Well, I am happy that God had different plans for me. Yes, God took my life as I surrendered to his calling. I became a new creation in Christ Jesus, humbly living my life as a faithful servant. I strive to glorify God in everything I do, using my God given gifts, reaching out to the lost and forgotten through a ministry that was put on my heart by God in a vision. By putting my faith in Christ, the foundations of Disciple of Christ Ministries was formed in June 2012, which is currently serving over 150 inmates across the United States through our Pen Pals for Jesus Ministry.